While few observers are sounding alarm bells about safety, perhaps more of us should be.

The worker-complaint report tracked how federal officials logged 21 whistle-blower complaints in 2012 from Watts Bar in Spring City, 19 from Sequoyah in Soddy-Daisy and 16 at Browns Ferry in Alabama.

TVA's explanations after the report came out focused on confusion over a change in work-ready status in Watts Bar, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, and some "new hires" on a project at Sequoyah going directly to the NRC instead of filing in-house complaints - the implication being that the complaints were exaggerated by inexperienced personnel.

But there's another way to look at this: 1) that a confusing situation existed at Watts Bar in the first place; and 2) that Sequoyah workers considered the project's problems serious enough to merit attention of federal regulators.

In an industry such as nuclear power generation, where rigorous steps should be in place in every level of the operation to ensure safety and readiness, it would be a breath of fresh air to first hear how the problems are being addressed, and not that we simply shouldn't worry about it.

The NRC more vigorously put TVA chiefs on the spot in a five-hour meeting last month in Atlanta about whether the utility could protect Watts Bar and Sequoyah in the event of a massive flood. TVA's vice president for nuclear licensing Joe Shea acknowledged "organizational overconfidence."

That phrase coming just two years against the devastating results in Japan is, frankly, stunning. For TVA not to have in place - not just on the drawing board - a flood preparedness system is outrageous.

Watts Bar and Sequoyah sit on the massive Tennessee River. Enough of us in Tennessee have firsthand knowledge of what floodwaters can do to demand that TVA treat this with utmost seriousness.